A United States air raid killed 14 members of an Iraqi family today in Iraq. The United States military has not commented on the raid other than to say that it was justified because men at the house were preparing a roadside bomb.

As a way to minimize United States casualties and prepare for the eventual withdrawal of significant portions of the US military presence in Iraq, the United States has increased its use of air strikes in Iraq. Since August of 2005, the number of air strikes has increased dramatically, growing from a monthly average of 25 in August to 120 in November and 150 in December. The United States has coupled this increase in air strikes with a shift towards smaller bombs, moving away from the 1,000 and 2,000 pound bombs that were common earlier in the conflict in favor of 500lb laser guided bombs that are supposedly designed to minimize the civilian casualties that the US military refers to as “collateral damage.” However, as the air war has expanded over the past few months, the numbers of Iraqi civilians killed by the United States’ has grown with numerous raids killing one to five civilians at a time. A raid in October of 2005 killed as many as 39 civilians.